review

Book #8 – Wool: Omnibus (Silo #1) by Hugh Howey

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Well, I promised to get caught back up on the books I’ve finished this last month and here I am!  I can’t think of a better place to start than with perhaps one of the best pieces of dystopian fiction to emerge in recent years.  The popularity of Hunger Games started a surge on the market of dark, futuristic worlds where “ordinary folk turned heroes” fight for justice, equality, etcetera, etcetera…I’ve always enjoyed dystopian tales, so I’m OK with this trend.  However, as with all fads, the true gems of the bunch are few and far between.  Wool by Hugh Howey is one of these diamonds.
Howey started this series as a novelette, self published on Amazon. It received such high praise that fans clamored for more, and the book was born.  Wool is actually a collection of these first 5 short stories and is book #1 in the Silo Saga (you can rest assured I’ll be reading the other two soon enough!).  The 5 stories tie together into one nearly seamless tale about living within the strict boundaries of a highly controlled society. When those rules are challenged, and the the lies that built them addressed, everything and everyone must either change or ultimately be destroyed.

Without giving too much more away, the story is essentially set on Earth, sometime in the distant future, where society lives underground after some unknown long-ago disaster destroyed everything on the surface and filled the air with toxic chemicals.  This space underground is a huge silo, 144 floors deep.  Every once and a great while, someone breaks the law by saying they want to go outside. They are sent outside to Cleaning, an act in which they clean the sensors/cameras on the top of the silo (which give the upper levels a view of the bleak landscape outside) and summarily die from exposure (even in their cleaning suits).  One Cleaning sets a series of events into motion which bring the lies to the surface and the Silo to it’s knees.

Art by Jasper Scheurs

The dystopian idea of people left to survive underground indefinitely is a great sociological exercise. Howey uses this experiment to his advantage to explore how society and culture is constructed or created; how the pieces work together but eventually wear around the edges to create gaps.  What happens when the entire world is built on falsehoods? Who do you trust and how do you deal with the sudden confrontation of this altered world?

Character development in Wool is also very solid. You probably know by now, I’m big into strong, or at least realistic, female heroes.  Howey succeeds at this as well.  Jules is a wonderful character: strong, believable, and vulnerable in the right ways.  She is a born leader with clear morals and beliefs about building and maintaining her community. Her rise, fall, and dangerous adventures in the silo unite all the stories. Jules is the vehicle for change who is believable for her imperfections as well as her honorable actions.

In the end, go read this book. It may stand for a long time near the top of my favorite books.

Book #4 Locke and Key Vol. 1, by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez

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Alright, I’m getting backlogged on my book entries… I’m already on book 6 of the year, but I’ve only written about 3. And, after tonight’s exhibit opening, in going to be doing a lot of reading! So, I’m taking a short break from ALA to do a short write up on my first reread of 2015.

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I finished this reread well before I completed The Wise Man’s Fear, but I couldn’t bring myself to write about anything formally until I wrote about Rothfuss. Joe Hill’s graphic novel is just stellar, and Rodriguez’s artwork compliments the story. You feel like you’re experiencing the world of these children/teens who have just lost their father in a very distressing way. Now, they face new dangers and horrors in Key House, their father’s childhood home, on the isle of Lovecraft. And in keeping with they title, one of the biggest mysteries has to do with doors…and keys.

As with a large portion of my books, this one comes Annie approved (she’s my personal librarian!). The story melds mystical, horror, and reality seamlessly in this collection of the first few issues of the comic, a prefect recipe for my type of tale. I already have the next two volumes, and I’m certain there will be much more to say as I work my way through the series!

Book #3-The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

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It should be stated somewhere that you can tell how much a book has gripped you by how fast you power through the audiobook version.  42 freaking hours!!!! Yes, that is the length of the audiobook version of my third book for 2015. Usually, listening is reserved to drive time (about 1 hour/day) and sometimes cooking.  So, a 42 hour book should take me over a month to complete…obviously, this is NOT the case here. I started it after Christmas and could not stop listening which lead me to finish it in about 3 weeks!  This phenomenal book is, of course, Patrick Rothfuss’ The Wise Man’s Fear.

wise_mans_fearThe Wise Man’s Fear is Day Two of The Kingkiller Chronicles, the first in the series being The Name of the Wind which I finished back in November. I’ll try to limit the spoilers in the following review.

cover_277The series follows the the story of Kvothe (pronounced quothe with one syllable).  As an adult, he is hiding as Kote, a simple innkeeper, but his life is legendary.  Chronicler, a scribe, uncovers who he is and requests to hear the entire true story.  Kvothe obliges, promising to tell his story over the course of three days. Each book is therefore set as ONE day of the story, and occasionally shuffles back and forth between the past (narrated by Kvothe) and the present period in the “quiet” inn.

The Name of the Wind follows Kvothe’s boyhood as one of the Edema Rue (troupers that perform plays and music) into his turbulent youth after the slaughter of his family and his eventual admittance into The University a couple of years later, where he studies arcane magics, science, letters, etc.  His talent and quick wit are as great at getting him into trouble as they are at getting him out of it.  The story is one of an impatient and clever boy making his way in a world where he normally would have little access.

While book one is very much a coming of age story, The Wise Man’s Fear steps into the realm of adult problems (even if he still is only a teenager throughout).  Kvothe continues studying at The University, only to have problems cause him to leave.  He adventures into Vintas, another nation, to work for Maer Alveron, the man who is richer than the King of Vint.  What follows are several adventures: chasing bandits, entering the Faen Realm, learning the secret art of the Adem mercenaries, and his eventual return to The University.

My vague and stilted summary aside, this series not only contains magic, it is magic.  Rothfuss creates a world that is comprehensive, alive, and teaming with possibility.  Kvothe is believable both in his likeability as well as in his obvious faults.  The author does not shy away from making his hero real and imperfect.  After all, he is still just a boy, a young man, and we know from the start that there must be a truth behind the legends.

I’ll admit that in Book One, I struggled with the lack of a strong female character. For as long as I can remember, I’ve focused in on the female-centric stories (I blame my mother…and Jane Yolen).  So, I started to assume Rothfuss was the stereotypical fantasy author focusing on a male hero.  Book Two proved to me why I should not be so gender specific in my literary choice.  Though Kvothe is the central character, Rothfuss supports him with a wide cast, and many of his teachers, leaders, mentors, and friends are women.  For me, I enjoy seeing such believable characters, treated primarily as people, not just as gender specific stereotypes.  We don’t need an “Amazonian Princess” to have strong women and we don’t need a “Hercules” to have strong men (yes, I’m simplifying things here, but you get the point).  Rothfuss’ world is the way I wish most people created characters (especially on TV and in Film): As primarily, verily, HUMAN.

Besides this incredible character creation and vibrant world, Rothfuss spoke to my heart with one other aspect: music.  Kvothe’s deepest love is song. He plays the lute like it is his very soul, and the tender detail in which Rothfuss describes the feel of the music, the joy and pain in playing, shows that the author is a musician himself, or has immersed himself in music enough to understand.

I’m a sucker for language, and it is this experiential phrasing that has me hooked on Rothfuss. Now, like the rest of his fans, I have to wait for Day Three and whatever remains beyond.